Mary Jane, are you listening? Amendment 64 may have done more than open the door to legalized recreational marijuana usage, cultivation and sale in the state. It's opened up a whole case of gummy worms and other munchies and down-the-rabbithole approaches to intertwined cultural/generational/health/legal/moral/social issues surrounding what voters think/feel about the problem/solution of marijuana. It makes one swoon into a purple haze contemplating all the twisted hemp strands involved. You could get a contact high just from bonging your head up against the wall of what this all means.

It's kind of up in the air, like Jimi Hendrix's famed purple haze, until the town board and the planning commission take a position and make regulations regarding recreational usage of the formerly illegal drug in unincorporated areas of the county. Larimer County commissioner Tom Donnelly said the county commissioners would likely follow whatever lead the town officials take in the Estes Valley. He and Michael Whitley, county planner and leading local authority on marijuana, spoke at Donnelly's monthly citizen's meeting Wednesday morning at the senior center.

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Last November, Colorado voters passed Amendment 64, decriminalizing limited personal cultivation, possession and the recreational use of marijuana by persons 21 years and older. Local jurisdictions must now decide whether to allow or prohibit marijuana operations. The town of Estes Park earlier placed a moratorium on medicinal marijuana dispensaries and now the town board will have to decide on regulations concerning recreational use. It is uncharted and confusing territorty.

Larimer County Commissioner chair Steve Johnson has said the county has several decisions to make, such as whether to ban or permit retail store operations.

"The public policy we make here has never been made anywhere before. We know how citizens voted and now we want to find out, for example, if citizens in the unincorporated areas want to see facilities in these areas. We want to hear what citizens think might be the potential impacts of our decisions."

County commissioners have held several "listening sessions" with voters regarding the issues involved, which Donnelly said have been very informative. Whitley gave the Estes Park audience a brief history of how we got where we are today and what might happen going forward.

The choices will involve allowing or banning marijuana stores in unincorporated areas, as well as cultivating facilities, testing facilities and commercial-scale facilities.

Amendment 64 says an individual can grow marijuana for his own personal use and consumption, purchase one ounce from dispensaries and give away marijuana one ounce at a time to other adults (21 and over), Whitley said. There is no oversight on personal growing or sharing without charge, Donnelly said.

An individual may have six marijuana plants — with no more than three of them flowering — for individual consumption and transfer, Whitley explained. Commissioners have to decide about commercial use, he said.

Federal regulators seem to have a slightly modified (but no less muddy) rule book. Nationally, marijuana is still illegal, but officials are not pursuing those individuals growing plants for their own consumption, Whitley said, while there is no definitive answer yet concerning commercial recreational shops.

Locally, municipalities all make their own decisions within their jurisdictions, he added. The county commissioners can only affect decisions in the unincorporated areas of the county.

As for enforcement, anybody involved on the chain of law officials may be involved — from the sheriff, to town police to federal drug enforcement agents. However, looked at logistically and realistically, there aren't enough agents to go around, especially with budget cuts.

The legalized marijuana issue began in Colorado in 2000, Whitley said, with Amendment 20 allowing the use of medical marijuana. Patients were required to have a state medical marijuana card, for which a doctor's prognosis of a debilitating medical condition and an application were required, and then they could obtain up to two ounces of marijuana from a "caregiver." In 2004, there were 512 patients; in 2009, more than 5,000; in 2010, 53,000; and in 2011, 128,000. The numbers "really exploded," Whitley said, and it seemed like more than just a few cancer patients were going up in smoke.

In 2007, the state ruled that "caregivers" could only help five patients at a time, based on a lawsuit concerning the process; the decision was later overturned, allowing caregivers any number of patients. Another lawsuit, in 2009, resulted in the definition of a caregiver as one who is responsible for the well-being of patients, which was overturned as well.

With the requirements for daily care and well-being and patient load lifted, it "opened up the market," Whitley said. Additionally, in 2009, a Department of Justice memo said that federal prosecutors should not expend significant resources on the prosecution of those providing/using medical marijuana.

There were 19 states that allowed the use of medical marijuana then— individuals taking care of other individuals were not a federal priority, Whitley said. That lifted the fear of federal prosecution, and "dispensaries popped up all over Colorado," he said.

Larimer County officials started receiving many concerned citizens' questions on zoning regarding dispensaries in the summer of 2009. There were no specific regulations or descriptions regarding medical marijuana, retail stores, pharmacies or greenhouses, until state lawmakers adopted some in January of 2010. Every jurisdiction in Colorado was dealing with the same issue, often differently.

Donnelly said Larimer County developed land-use regulations for unincorporated areas of the county in 2010. From those, Whitley said, marijuana dispensaries were only allowed in commercial (C) and industrial (I) zoning areas, had to have a 1,000-foot buffer from schools and a 500-foot buffer from homes and hospitals and go through a public hearing process. County commissioners would approve or deny the applications.

Whitley said the state regulations created in 2000 are not set up to deal with commercial marijuana sale and usage. The state, however, did develop the Colorado Medical Marijuana Code in 2010, which required dispensaries to be licensed. Cities were able to adopt their own bans on growing operations.

Larimer County adopted a moratorium in June of 2010, but they had received 12 applications by then. Commissioners made specific decisions, after three applications were withdrawn over regulation requirements. Donnelly said seven went through the process and were denied. Commissioners approved two dispensaries, on the fringe of Fort Collins, which are still operating today, tucked discreetly in their locations. The dispensaries are not allowed to expand or relocate.

That wrapped up the medical marijuana law, Whitley said. But then, as the song says, "Along came (recreational) Mary (Jane)."

There is state level licensing, with local approval, and the local level of regulation can be more severe than state licensing — and that's how Amendment 64 works, Whitely said. Estes Park banned medical dispensaries, Donnelly said, while other cities put the issue on the ballot. Voters approved a ban in Fort Collins, Whitley said, and 20 facilities closed. That decision was overturned in the last election, he added, and the facilities have the right to apply for reinstatement.

In yet another confusing turn, the 2012 election saw 56.35 percent of Larimer County voters approving the usage of recreational marijuana. It was "what the voters wanted," Whitley said.

Donnelly observed there is a perception that the jails are full of those who have been caught for having one join in their pockets. While that is untrue, he said, the idea persists that people are being criminalized for possessing small amounts of marijuana.

As far as mandates go, the state has to have licensing regulations in place by July of this year, and municipalities are required to approve or ban recreational marijuana facilities by October, or refer the issue to the voters. Cities must have a plan, because the state will refer applications to local jurisdictions, which must reply within a given timeframe. A state task force has provided a number of recommendations; the governor has not signed any bills yet, but has indicated he will, Whitley said.

On the pro side of decriminalizing marijuana, there is the tax issue. The first $40 million of the 15-percent excise tax on marijuana is earmarked for a school construction fund. Even that is not straightforward, however, as Donnelly pointed out, that will not build many schools, maybe three or four. Because of TABOR, the voters would have to approve any new special taxes.

"Where we're at — the state is doing its part; we have to do our," Whitley said.

That involves either banning or regulating retail marijuana facilities in unincorporated areas of the county. Fifteen employees statewide are responsible for the licensing of 600 dispensaries.

Whatever the county commissioners decide on the recreational marijuana issue, Donnelly assured citizens their decision will not be a political one, based on personal values, but rather on a more rational basis, regarding the true facts of land use.

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